


Hope

by PaintingWithWords (paint_with_words)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Apocalypse, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Climate Change, Don’t copy to another site, Environmentalism, Gen, M/M, Magic, MerMay, Mermaids, Mutual Pining, Other, Pining, Temporary Character Death, Whale hunting, environmentalists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 00:23:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18839839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paint_with_words/pseuds/PaintingWithWords
Summary: Not long after he changed course, Viktor heard the low drone of a boat moving in the water ahead of him.  It was heading towards the whales, just like he was.  Viktor frowned, the warning of the dolphins coming back to him:Men are hungry.  He knew that men sometimes hunted whales.  He hoped the ones on the boat didn’t know about the newborn calf and were only heading in the same direction by sheer coincidence.  He decided to close the distance between them and keep them in his sights, just in case.When he was close enough to see the boat, Viktor surfaced, but only allowed his head to break the water.  Men were not supposed to see them under any circumstance.  But Viktor had never seen a man up close.  Were they really were as hideous as Yakov and Lilia said they were?At the back of the boat stood a man, looking out over the ocean as if he were searching for something.  From here, he didn’t appear to be ugly, not in the least.  He was lean and strong, and his skin shone in the sunlight like pale gold, a lovely contrast to his dark, windblown hair.  Had he been a mer and not a man, Viktor would have found him quite attractive.





	Hope

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for the [Viktuuri Angst Bang’s](https://viktuuriangstbang.tumblr.com/) writing wars. Every two weeks, we get a new prompt, and for May 1-15, the prompt was “Apocalypse AU”. I managed to pair that with Mermay and well, here you go!
> 
> With thanks to [smolkristen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smolkristen/profile) for her encouragement, cheerleading, and lovely art, and to [ZB_121](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZB_121/pseuds/ZB_121) and [faeriefirefly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/faeriefirefly/pseuds/faeriefirefly) for the beta!

This part of the ocean was warmer than Viktor remembered.  He’d come here once as a child with his parents to listen to the melancholy songs of whales as they swam out into the open ocean.  The water had been clear and cool then and fish had playfully darted around them, making him laugh. Now the sea was murky and warm and the fish were long gone.

Truthfully, Viktor didn’t want to be here.  He would have been happy to have spent the rest of his life at home.  But Yakov had sent him out to investigate the fearful stories they’d heard and to return with a first-hand account of what changes were taking place in other parts of the ocean.  If things were as bad as they seemed, if men were truly as terrible as the tales they’d heard, there might not be any hope left for them. Now, after three full turns of the moon, it was finally time for Viktor to return home and tell everyone what he had learned.  He only wished he had something better to tell them.

Whalesong, always melancholy, had become a lament for what once was.  They sang of the rising of the warming seas and the loss of polar ice and mourned the mass harvesting of the ocean’s bounty by men.  The creatures that had once teemed within the water were dying at an ever increasing pace.

Viktor had hoped to prove them wrong, to find some shred of evidence that the world was not suffering as they said.  But everything he’d seen and heard supported their claims.

Every school of fish or shiver of sharks he’d spent time with all told the same tale.  Their numbers were rapidly dwindling. Many of the corals were dead or dying, their vibrant colors faded and bleached by the warming water.  Some of the fish were also gone, either from loss of habitat or taken to feed the voracious appetites of men. Turtles struggled to find a clean beach on which to lay their eggs and mistook the trash of men for food and starved for their mistake.

The whales were right.

The end was coming.  And they were powerless to stop it.

Wanting to take a look at the surface before he headed home, Viktor broke the water one last time.  On the horizon, he could make out the dark, hulking shape of a large ship and shivered.

“Stay away from ships,” a pod of dolphins had warned him when he first started his journey.  “Men are hungry.” Viktor had nodded his thanks and kept his distance.

The surface of the water around him shimmered with a pungent, oily film.  He could see it on his hands, winking in iridescent shades of amethyst and carnelian as it flowed over the webbing between his fingers.  Was this too the work of men? Shaking his head in sorrow, he dove to the bottom and scrubbed himself clean with handfuls of sand. It was time to leave this desolate place and head north towards home.

Viktor was pleased when he found the deep current a few days later.  Swimming in warm waters for so long had drained him and it was a long journey back.  The cool current would rejuvenate him and cut his travel time as well. Grateful, he slipped into the stream and let it carry him.

After a few days in the current, Viktor caught the faint song of whales far in the distance.  But instead of being despondent, their song was joyous. If the whales were happy, he needed to know why.  It could be good news for all of them and Viktor was desperate to bring back some shred of hope, no matter how small.  Swiftly he exited the current, held still, and listened.

It was a song celebrating the birth of a calf, a female, the first in a long time for this pod.  Someday, if they were lucky, she would bear new life.

Overjoyed, Viktor headed east towards the song.  They were a little out of his way but he could spare some time.  Besides, this was a wondrous event and all too rare these days. He had to see the calf for himself.

Not long after he changed course, Viktor heard the low drone of a boat moving in the water ahead of him.  It was heading towards the whales, just like he was. Viktor frowned, the warning of the dolphins coming back to him: _Men are hungry_.  He knew that men sometimes hunted whales.  He hoped the ones on the boat didn’t know about the newborn calf and were only heading in the same direction by sheer coincidence.  He decided to close the distance between them and keep them in his sights, just in case.

When he was close enough to see the boat, Viktor surfaced, but only allowed his head to break the water.  Men were not supposed to see them under any circumstance. But Viktor had never seen a man up close. Were they really were as hideous as Yakov and Lilia said they were?

At the back of the boat stood a man, looking out over the ocean as if he were searching for something.  From here, he didn’t appear to be ugly, not in the least. He was lean and strong, and his skin shone in the sunlight like pale gold, a lovely contrast to his dark, windblown hair.  Had he been a mer and not a man, Viktor would have found him quite attractive.

Viktor watched as another man approached the first.  The second was shorter with a shock of gold and scarlet hair.  He listened as their voices carried over the water, delighted in the soft timbre of the dark-haired man’s voice, and winced at the excited squeaks from his companion.  The smaller one reminded Viktor of Yuri and a sudden wave of homesickness swept over him. Was he a youngling too, like Yuri?

Viktor decided to follow the boat as long as they were all headed in the same general direction.  Perhaps he could learn more about men on this expedition as well.

In all, there were six humans on the boat and half of the appeared to be female.  The eldest reminded Viktor of Lilia, with her dark hair and sharp expressions. He laughed, wondering if her tongue was as sharp as Lilia’s.  One of the other females had a crown of blonde hair, but the underside was dark. The last female wore her hair back in braid, making him long for Mila’s company.  The remaining male reminded Viktor of Otabek, the young warrior who had come to live with them when the water grew too warm for his family.

These men didn’t throw trash into the ocean and they didn’t take anything from it, either.   These men seemed almost entirely at odds with what the other creatures of the sea had told him of their kind.

Were there more men out there like them?  If so, maybe he could find a way to explain to them what the rest of their kind were doing.  Maybe they could get the other men to stop heating the seas and to quit taking what they wanted as though the world belonged only to them.

Viktor followed them for several days.  Every night, the first man he’d seen came to the back of the boat and looked out over the sea, a wistful expression on his beautiful face.  And he was beautiful, even if his hands weren’t webbed and he walked on two legs. Viktor found himself looking forward to these evenings, utterly entranced.

In the old days, the mer had lured men to their deaths on the rocks with their songs.  Was it possible that it worked the other way as well? Because Viktor certainly felt the call of this man and he was willing to follow him wherever he went _—_

Suddenly, the man stood up straighter and a shocked expression played over his features… and Viktor realized the man was looking right at him.  

Viktor froze.  Men weren’t supposed to see them.  It was law. Mer were supposed to only be myth and legend to man.  And now a man— a beautiful man he felt drawn to— had seen him.

Nothing good could come of this.  It was only a matter of time before the man raised the alarm and his fellows came after him.  Reluctantly, Viktor slipped beneath the water and darted away. With any luck, the man would think he had imagined him and forget all about him.

But the next night he was there again, at the back of the ship, scanning the waters.  Looking for him.

It was hard to remain hidden.

Viktor knew he should stop following the boat.  He knew he should just go directly to the whales, who were still singing their song of joy.  But the draw of this beautiful man was too much.

The next day, there was a flurry of activity on the boat.  The men ran around, yelling at one another as they worked feverishly, making preparations.  For what, Viktor didn’t know. But then the boat put on speed and headed directly for the whales and their newborn.

Somehow, they must have heard about them.  And now they were heading there to slaughter them.

Angry at having been fooled, Viktor followed behind them, swimming as fast as he could.

There was little chance he could do anything.  The only weapons he had were a stone knife he wore at his waist and the storm seed that Georgi had given him.

“Use this only if you need to get away,” Georgi had said when he’d given it to him.  “Once you break the bottle, dive as deep as you can. It will work best if the skies are angry, but even if they are not, it will still stir the sea.”

Viktor fingered the bottle, tied to a length of cord around his neck, next to the bottle of medicine Lilia had given him.  If he could close the distance between them and break the bottle against the boat, maybe he could stop them.

He put on speed, even though it was hard, and got closer to the boat.  But before he could reach it, he heard the sound of other boats in the water and the deep, bone-shaking roar of a large ship.

And in front of them were the whales, singing a song of fear.

They knew the ship was after them, after their child, who clung to her mother’s side, and they were utterly defenseless in the open water.

Viktor made for the whales.  Perhaps he could get close to one of the boats and break the bottle and give the whales a chance to get away.  But to his amazement, the boats— which were much smaller than the large ship— were angrily darting in between the ship and its path to the whales.

He’d seen battle before.  He’d watched dolphins rush sharks in an effort to keep them away from their elderly or their young.  This looked like the same thing. The small boats would dart in front of the ship, interfering with its ability to close in on the whales.

What were they doing?  Were the boats actually _protecting_ the whales from the ship?

The older whales were afraid.  Ships like this one meant death for some of their number.  And with a calf too young to hold her breath long enough to dive deep, they were all at risk.

Viktor knew the last thing he should do was approach the ship.  But the whales were defenseless, and the men were doing their best to keep the ship away, but it was only a matter of time before the ship overtook them.  Even now, it was trying to maneuver around the smaller, more nimble boats.

He made a decision.  Determined, he pulled the vial that contained the storm off the cord and made for the large ship.  It would be more effective if there was bad weather already, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and this would have to do.  He could slow down the men in the ship and give the whales the chance to get away. It wasn’t much, but it was all he had.

Viktor came up to the side of the ship, found a spot relatively free of the crust of barnacles, and turned in the direction of the whales.

_“Run!”_ he cried as he smashed the small bottle against the hull.  Instantly, he was propelled back through the water as the force contained within the tiny bottle was unleashed.  A ferocious roar echoed in his ears and he found it impossible to catch his breath. Looking up at the surface, he saw the water begin to churn, tossing the boats about like toys.  The ship felt the force of the waves, too, listing from side to side in the water.

The whales took the opportunity and swam away as fast as they could.  Viktor swam after them, intending to follow them, but he saw the shapes of several men hit the water above him.  One of them— the one with the golden skin and dark hair who watched the sea at night, the one he found so enchanting, the one who had seen him— began to sink like a stone.

Without thinking, Viktor chased him into the murky depths.  He reached the man and pulled his limp form into his arms. Viktor saw that his eyes were closed and he had a small cut on his head.

Men couldn’t breathe in the water.  If he’d been unconscious when he hit the water—

Viktor gripped the man and kicked fiercely towards the surface, praying that the sea wouldn’t claim this one.  He swam as fast as he could and tried not to think about how heavy or still the man in his arms was.

Strong waves tossed the boats and the ship around, making it hard to surface.  No sooner had Viktor broken the water than a wave crashed over him, submerging them both again.  Viktor fought to keep them upright and to keep the man’s head above water.

The large ship was having trouble, but not nearly as much as the smaller boats that had pestered it.  Many of them were struggling to stay upright and several men were in the water, adorned with strange, brightly colored garments that kept them afloat.  The man in his arms had no such garment and made no effort in his arms. Viktor felt for the big vein in his throat, searching for some sign of life, and hoped that men weren’t so different as to not have one.  He shuddered when he found it, struggling weakly under his fingertips.

As the storm began to break up and the water calmed, Viktor cradled the man in his arms.  Now that they were on the surface, the man should try to breathe, but he was silent and still, kept afloat only by Viktor’s efforts.

Gently, Viktor shook him and turned him in his arms.  Water slipped from between his slightly parted lips, which had turned blue.  The flush and warmth of life had left him.

Crying out, Viktor yanked the other vial from his necklace and pried the stopper loose with his teeth.  Lilia had given him the medicine in case he came to harm. But this man needed it. He didn’t know if it would work.  Men might be so different that the medicine of the mer would have no effect. But he had to try. If he did nothing, his light would fade from the world forever.

Tilting the man’s head back, Viktor poured the contents into his mouth, praying it would work. When the vial was drained, he held the man close, urging him to breathe again.

For a long moment, the man lay limp in his arms.  Viktor feared he had already passed, and that the only thing left to do was to let him slip from his arms and be claimed by the depths.  Lilia would have already done so. Lilia would never have wasted her precious medicine on a man or tried to save him in the first place. She would have watched him sink and celebrated his demise.

But he wasn’t Lilia.  He wasn’t Yakov or Yuri or Georgi or Mila or Otabek.  He wasn’t any of them and he had been sent out to see what was to be seen.  He had seen that not all men were evil. Not all men took without thought. The world would be a darker place without this man and others like him in it.

The man remained still.

Sadly, Viktor realized that the medicine didn’t work.  Or that the man had been in the water too long and was already gone when he gave it to him.  The only thing to do now was to release him and let him go. Crying, he held the man close as they sunk below the surface.

When the water closed around them, unable to resist, Viktor leaned in and pressed a kiss to those sweet lips.

Suddenly, the man in his arms moved, pushing weakly against him and sputtering.

_He was alive!_

Overjoyed, Viktor kicked his tail and again they broke the water.  The man coughed, blinking at him with amazement and wonder in his dark eyes.  Viktor heard the drone of boats around them and saw one approaching them. Viktor held him close in his arms, keeping them afloat, while the boat slowly approached.  He saw the elated expressions of the man’s companions when they saw their friend and the naked shock on all their faces when they saw _him_.  

These men were _different_ , Viktor told himself, refusing to give in to fear.  These men put themselves in harm’s way to help the helpless.  These men were worthy of the secret of his existence.

The boat slowed and one of the females entered the water.  She carried one of the strange garments that let men float on the water.  She swam to them and eased the garment on the man while Viktor held him.

The man, weak as he was, never looked away from him.  He pushed a strand of Viktor’s silvery hair back from his eyes while the female helped him dress.  Then, when it was time for the man to rejoin his kind, he leaned in and kissed Viktor.

It was soft, no more than the faintest brush of his lips against his own, but Viktor knew he would remember the sensation for the rest of his life.

Smiling softly, Viktor let the female take the man from his arms and guide him back to the boat.  Without a sound, Viktor allowed himself to slip beneath the water and watched them move away.

Viktor followed the boat for two more days and nights.  Viktor knew he should visit the whales, but he had heard their song of thanks and knew they were safe, at least for the time being.  Besides, there was nothing more he could do for them. He had used the storm to save them. If they encountered trouble what good could a lone mer, armed only with a stone knife, do?

He was worried about the man and afraid when he didn’t see him at the back of the boat the first night.  Maybe the medicine wasn’t as effective for men, or maybe it had an adverse effect. But the second evening, the man was there again, swaddled in a large piece of cloth, with a small strip of fabric over the cut, marring his otherwise perfect forehead.  He sat at the back of the boat, looking out over the sea, and this time, Viktor knew exactly what he was looking for.

Viktor flicked his tail against the surface of the water, drawing the man’s attention.  The man let the cloth fall away and leaned against the boat, gazing at him with a rapt expression.

This time, Viktor didn’t back away.

They stayed that way all night, watching one another under the silvery light of the moon.

In the morning, when the boat changed direction at last, Viktor didn’t follow it.  His heart and soul went with it, but he had a duty to his people. Yakov and the others had waited too long for their information.  Viktor was glad that he could at least bring them some small shred of hope.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you so much for reading! Kudos, comments, and shares are worth their weight in gold, baby...


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